From what I understand from my family, my work with my ancestors, and from others whom I've spoken to who do this similar work, is that village life was and is quite chaotic at times. There is such a closeness that there is also a lack of privacy, there is wisdom, but there is also superstition and fear. But what stood out for me the most was that there is an ability to walk peacefully with grief, so beautifully, in fact I would call it an art......When I ask my ancestors what do they want, what can we all do? They simply say, "cry with us."…..

For some time all I could relate of my experience of Ireland were bits and pieces of that poem, and a wordless, soundless dance that demanded expression through my body, in a quiet place on my own, away from everyone. I still have some trouble putting my experiences to words, but when I do, I think of the shifting weather, the hedges that lined the roads, the chatter of crows, the countless sheep and cows speckled upon the grassy hills, the smell of burning peat, and the enormity of the sky....

Sometimes the medicine we need is the medicine of place, journeying somewhere, not necessarily far away, but just far enough that it has a significant effect on one’s being. And this place, wherever it may be, will be found through an unseen magnetic pull towards it. For the longest time, I have always been fascinated by travelling the Canadian country roads that bridge the gap from one place to another. I guess whatever I’ve been feeling these past few months in particular greatly had to do with finding this “place”, another place different from the one that tugged at me last year which was in Costa Rica. This summer, another trip will be made to Ireland, but an unexpected, more local town had called me home earlier in the spring....

I am burning beautiful jewels of frankincense resin, a practice for cleansing from my home land of Egypt. The sleepy scent reminds my bones of the desert, like a call from the quiet sands that blow with the dry wind. This makes me want to talk about ancestry. I want to start this discussion because my ancestors urge me to, and I know this opening will lead into something more....